- US Senate panel considers vote to shield special education from RFK Jr.’s agency
Source: USA Today
“A Senate committee is considering a vote in July to prevent the Trump administration from transferring core functions of federal special education programs to the Health and Human Services Department, which is overseen by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The move – one of the most dramatic changes in President Donald Trump’s yearlong crusade to dismantle the Education Department – immediately set off alarm among disability rights groups, who fear it could eventually disrupt services for students with disabilities. Critics pointed to RFK Jr.’s pattern of controversial past statements about autism in particular (he said during a press conference last year that the condition ‘destroys families’). Though federal officials have not yet provided a clear timeline for the bold shift – even in internal communications to employees – they’ve promised that students’ rights will continue to be protected.” (06/20/26)
- UN warns of atrocities in Sudan as RSF advances on El-Obeid
Source: Yahoo! News
“Members of the UN Security Council on Saturday warned of possible atrocities and a worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) advance towards the city of El-Obeid in Kordofan state. The council called on the RSF not to launch an attack on the city, which lies in a strategic area linking central and western Sudan. The warning came days after UN Secretary General António Guterres urged the international community to press Sudan’s warring parties to avoid further bloodshed. He warned against a repeat of atrocities reported during the RSF’s capture of Al-Fashir in the Darfur region late last year. According to the UN human rights office, more than 6,000 people were killed in the city over three days.” (06/21/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/un-warns-atrocities-sudan-rsf-052620470.html
- Bitcoin ETFs shed record $6.4 billion in 30 days amid crypto winter chill
Source: Crypto Briefing
“US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced a record outflow of $6.4 billion over the past 30 days, as Bitcoin’s price dropped by 17%. This significant withdrawal indicates a decline in institutional confidence during a period marked by heightened volatility and price pressure in the broader cryptocurrency market. With Bitcoin in the mid to low $60,000 range, the market reaction suggests that the outflow is consistent with a broader reduction in risk appetite among investors. The considerable sell-off in Bitcoin ETFs highlights the ongoing challenges within the crypto sector, as market participants adjust in response to market conditions.” (06/21/26)
https://cryptobriefing.com/bitcoin-etfs-shed-record-64b-in-30-days-amid-crypto-winter-chill/
- Zelensky returns highest Polish honour after award stripped
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky says he has returned Poland’s highest honour after his Polish counterpart Karol Nawrocki said he was stripping him of the award. The Polish Order of the White Eagle was bestowed on Zelensky in 2023 by then-President Andrzej Duda. But Kyiv caused outrage last month after renaming a Ukrainian army unit after a group of controversial World War Two fighters called the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). Three senior Ukrainian officials have also said they are returning awards bestowed by Poland, to show solidarity with their president. Many in Ukraine regard the UPA, which existed in the 1940s and 1950s, as heroes who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Soviet Red Army, Nazi Germany and Polish authorities. The group’s red and black flag is often used by Ukrainian troops on the front line today.” (06/20/26)
- M&M’s to remove artificial dyes, eliminate two iconic colors
Source: Yahoo! News
“M&M’s is embracing the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement with a new product set to launch this summer. The iconic brand will introduce a version of its candies made without artificial dyes beginning in August, as it marks its 85th anniversary. However, the change comes with a tradeoff: M&M’s plans to eliminate its blue and brown candies from the lineup. Mars told The Wall Street Journal the colors could not be recreated with natural ingredients at a reasonable cost.” (06/20/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/m-m-remove-artificial-dyes-224823417.html
- Russia: Regime frees 24 Filipinos after Marcos talks with Putin
Source: SFGate
“Russia has freed 24 Filipinos who were detained for months without charges in a Siberian city, after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. raised concern for them in a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Philippine officials said Saturday. The 24 arrived in Manila aboard two flights early Sunday, and the first batch was welcomed by Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro, who accompanied Marcos in his talks with Putin on Wednesday in the Russian city of Kazan, the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said. Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac welcomed the final batch of freed workers before dawn. His agency provided unspecified aid to the workers, who were detained in a Russian region known for its extreme winter temperatures..” (06/20/26)
- MO: Judge finds state laws restricting abortion violate voter-approved constitutional amendment
Source: Seattle Times
“A Missouri judge this week struck down a series of restrictions on abortion, finding they violated a constitutional amendment that voters approved in 2024. Many of the provisions were already on hold because of an earlier, preliminary court ruling. But it is resulting in one major change: The state’s Planned Parenthood affiliates say the new ruling means they’re going to start prescribing abortion pills to patients there for the first time since 2018. The ruling is a clear legal victory for abortion rights advocates, but it’s not the final word. An appeal and another ballot measure are on tap.” (06/19/26)
- DC: American Olympic canoeist arrested for vandalizing [sic] Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
Source: New York Post
“A former US Olympian was arrested for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC. David Hearn, a three-time Olympic canoeist, was cycling past the monument on Friday when he said he stopped and noticed a piece of the pool’s liner floating in the water. President Trump announced that ‘many additional people’ have also been arrested in connection to the ‘disgraceful Vandalism [sic].’ … Trump claimed that the vandals poured destructive chemicals into the pool and that it would have to be drained so that repairs could be made. … Hearn, 67, claimed to the Washington Post he reached out and touched the detached piece and was quickly taken into custody by Park Police at the beleaguered monument.” [editor’s note: This story seems to imply that Hearn had no ill intent; so what is the real story? – SAT] (06/20/26)
- ICC prosecutor temporarily suspended from British bar
Source: ABC News
“The British bar association temporarily suspended the embattled chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Friday, pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings. British barrister Karim Khan was formally removed from his duties at the ICC last week after the court’s oversight body found he had engaged in ‘serious misconduct’ over accusations he had an inappropriate relationship with a female staff member. The 56-year old has strongly denied the allegations against him. The move by the Bar Standards Board, which regulates lawyers practicing in England and Wales, is the latest challenge Khan is facing. Last week the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties — the executive committee of the ICC’s oversight body — concluded he had engaged in ‘serious misconduct’ and ‘serious breach of duty’ and recommended his removal from office.” (06/19/26)
- India: Cockroach Party supporters bang plates to call for education minister’s resignation
Source: SFGate
“Supporters of India’s viral Cockroach Janta Party banged steel plates with spoons in a protest Saturday to demand the resignation of the education minister over allegations of examination irregularities and repeated paper leaks. The protest near Parliament in New Delhi by hundreds of students and young supporters of the nascent movement added to the pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government while also seeking wider support among Indians. Authorities deployed heavy security and police used cameras and drones to monitor the protest. Some carried placards and others banged plates, their noise cutting through the crowd protesting and demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The banging of plates appeared to satirize Modi’s call for Indians to step onto balconies and rooftops and bang utensils in solidarity with front-line health workers during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.” (06/20/26)
- US regime to end funding for South Africa’s HIV programs over policy issues
Source: United Press International
“The Trump administration plans to stop funding HIV programs in South Africa under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief over policy differences. The U.S. State Department is winding down the funds South Africa receives from PEPFAR to care for the roughly 8 million people there who are living with HIV, Semafor, Politico and The BBC reported. PEPFAR was launched in 2003 by former President George W. Bush and, over the last two decades, has partnered with health authorities in more than 50 nations to save 25 million lives and prevent millions of new HIV infections, State Department figures show. President Donald Trump in a February 2025 executive order accused South Africa of permitting discrimination against white Afrikaners and has slowly pulled back U.S. funding for its HIV programs over the last year.” (06/19/26)
- France: Regime bans alcohol consumption at music festival events under red heatwave alert
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“France has banned alcohol at some events at massive national music festival as a heatwave pushes temperatures towards record levels. The annual Fête de la Musique celebrations draw millions to the streets but with the most serious heatwave warnings being issued for 35 of France’s departments, the government has banned alcohol consumption in public places under the red alerts. ‘For all events organised by the state and its agencies, instructions have been given not to offer alcohol,’ the office of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said. On Sunday, temperatures of 39C-40C are expected from the southwest through the Paris region into Burgundy, with some areas possibly reaching 41C.” (06/20/26)
- Spain: Court bans PM’s wife from leaving country amid corruption probe
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“The wife of Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been barred from travelling abroad as she prepares to face trial on corruption charges. Investigating judge Juan Carlos Peinado issued the ruling on Saturday, ordering Sanchez’s wife, Begona Gomez, to hand in her passport and appear in front of court twice per month until a verdict is issued. She is charged with embezzlement, influence peddling, corruption in business dealings and misappropriation of funds. Gomez has consistently denied any wrongdoing in the case, which stems from a complaint filed by an anticorruption group with far-right ties. It focuses on the creation and management of a chair at Madrid’s Complutense University that was co-directed by Gomez, as well as the alleged use of public resources and personal connections to advance private interests.” (06/20/26)
- “Public Services”: The Longest Con
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“‘The state,’ 19th century French economist Frédéric Bastiat wrote, ‘is the great fiction by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.’ Many, maybe even most, people seem to believe that without government we not only wouldn’t, but couldn’t, have things like roads, schools, mail delivery, and electricity. And yet all those things existed long before any of the governments that provide them today existed, and in some cases long before political government itself, as we understand it, existed.” (06/21/26)
- Donald Trump, Champion of Renewable Energy
Source: Paul Krugman
by Paul Krugman“On Wednesday the Interior Department announced that it would pay the energy developer Invenergy $765 million not to develop three offshore wind farms. This is the third such payment by the Trump administration to undo offshore wind projects that have been years in the planning. Trump has so far committed $2.5 billion in taxpayer dollars to killing renewable energy projects. … Yet here’s the irony: Donald Trump’s disastrous Iran war has delivered a huge boost for renewable energy around the world — except in the U.S.. Trump has so far done more to shift the global economy away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy than any other single individual in history.” (06/19/26)
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/donald-trump-champion-of-renewable
- We’re Always Just One New Tax Away From Utopia
Source: Independent Institute
by Scott Beyer“With Elon Musk’s ascent to trillionaire status following last Friday’s SpaceX IPO, progressive politicians are once again calling for a wealth tax. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and more argue that taxing immense fortunes would provide the revenue needed to fund everything from universal childcare to expanded healthcare and housing programs. Listening to them, one gets the impression that society is perpetually just one new tax away from solving its big problems. That’s fantastical thinking. The wealth tax is often presented as an obvious way to fund government programs—basically free money. Yet its proponents rarely grapple with two realities. First, the tax may be practically unworkable. Second, even if it could be implemented, the revenue would not solve the problems these politicians identify, and may even worsen them. These are separate questions, and both deserve examination.” (06/20/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/06/20/always-a-tax-away-from-utopia/
- AI Doomsday Warnings Distract from More Imminent AI Concerns
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Daniel Nuccio“AI is everywhere. It’s getting incorporated into everything. That’s simply progress, we’re told. And therefore we need to embrace it, lest we look like a Luddite and let China win (whatever that means). Yet, simultaneously, a lot of people also are afraid because of AI. Very afraid. And sometimes, we’re told that we should be afraid too. However, in public discourse surrounding AI, there often can be a lack of detail regarding what specifically we’re supposed to be afraid of. Sometimes it is not even clear what is meant by the term ‘AI.’ … these more hyperbolic, sci-fi depictions of the threat(s) posed by AI tend to get more attention than, and consequently distract from, more realistic and more imminent threats pertaining to privacy, freedom, autonomy, and even just a way of life many of us have come to enjoy.” (06/19/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/ai-doomsday-warnings-distract-from-more-imminent-ai-concerns/
- It’s a great time to be a socialist. Until reality sets in.
Source: Washington Post
by Megan McArdle“It has never been a better time in America to be a socialist. We aging Gen Xers who thought that socialism had been decisively refuted by the fall of the Berlin Wall have been refuted ourselves: Democratic socialists now run Seattle and New York City, and come January, probably D.C. too, where Janeese Lewis George won the Democratic primary that generally decides the district’s mayoral elections. … The challenge is that socialism’s rise is spiky, concentrated in blue cities where affluent (but often downwardly mobile) college graduates cluster. That’s a problem for the Democratic Party, where the excesses of progressive governance are helping to make the party’s brand toxic in the less true-blue areas. But it’s also a challenge for the socialists, because cities are the hardest place to execute big plans for new taxing and spending.” (06/21/26)
- The Mind and Brilliance of Alexis de Tocqueville, Part One
Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis“Most of you have heard of Alexis de Tocqueville, the Frenchman who visited America in the 1830s and wrote a two-volume classic, Democracy in America, about his findings. De Tocqueville was an incredibly brilliant man, and I’d like to share with readers a little of his genius. Like our Founding Fathers, he had a solid grasp of history, human nature, and great, eternal spiritual truths. Here are a few of his thoughts: 1. ‘The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.’ … I find it interesting that he said that Congress would bribe the people with their own money. The man was honest. … 2. ‘I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run.'” (06/21/26)
- Queers are Everywhere You Bomb
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid“It is a sad and disturbing fact that the white supremacist cis hetero chauvinists behind the mirage factory that is Atlantic neoliberalism have adopted the notion of ‘LGBTQ rights’ as one of their many excuses for flattening the planet and turning it into a colossal beige fulfillment center at the service of the global 1%. But this must be seen for what it truly is; fickle, empty and totally deceptive propaganda.” (06/20/26)
https://exileinhappyvalley.blogspot.com/2026/06/queers-are-everywhere-you-bomb.html
- Power of judges expanding, not being curbed
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton“This week, a federal judge in Montana cancelled oil and gas leases on 1.5 MILLION acres of land in the State of Wyoming (a different district). And more acres in Montana and the Dakotas. … The State of Wyoming alone will lose $330 million in royalties and fees – not counting the taxes paid by the people who work getting and transporting the natural gas, and the taxes as the money circulates through the local economies. Now, as lovers of liberty, we are of mixed feelings about the bureaucrats and politicos down in Cheyenne (or Helena, or Bismarck and Pierre) getting less money. But it is the people that won’t get paid because that oil and gas will stay in the ground, instead of fueling the economy, that really take it in the shorts. … So why did this judge do this? Including going outside his district? Bluntly, because the guy is in bed with the environists.” (06/20/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/06/20/power-of-judges-expanding-not-being-curbed/
- Fatalities From Israel’s Vast Gaza Genocide Deliberately Undercounted
Source: Common Dreams
by Ralph Nader“The mainstream media has no problem guesstimating the deaths (500,000) from the Assad Dictatorship’s Civil War in Syria, nor the estimated deaths in the wars in Ukraine, Sudan, or Iran. Somehow, media editors do not let their investigative reporters assess the extent of Israel’s mass murder of civilians in Gaza, an exposed, defenseless population of 2.3 million people in an enclave the geographic size of Pennsylvania. … Why? One reason is that the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health certifies deaths in Gaza based on reports from hospitals and morgues that were mostly blown up well over a year ago. (They report presently around 73,000 fatalities.) But Hamas has admitted that there are tens of thousands of bodies under the rubble, thousands more blown into bits or incinerated and unidentifiable.” (06/20/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/gaza-genocide-death-toll-undercount
- Fossils
Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman“Back when I was a college student, a very long time ago, coat and tie were required wear in the dining hall. I kept a rolled up tie in my pocket, to be worn for meals and only for meals, have rarely worn one since. Part of the reason may have been that my sport at the time was judo, where choke holds are legal. Neckties are an obsolete technology. Their purpose was to seal the shirt at the neck to help keep the wearer warm in unheated rooms. They have been made obsolete twice, first by central heating and a second time by elastic. They are still worn, although less often than when I was young. Neckties are a fossil. There are others.” (06/19/26)
- Patriotism: The one growing gap between Dems & Repubs that shouldn’t ever exist
Source: New York Post
by Rich Lowry“Democrats take great offense at being accused of being unpatriotic, but the data don’t lie. A new NBC News poll captured the partisan gap over pride in America. Overall, 56% of Americans are extremely or very proud of the country, but only 29% of Democrats, compared to 90% of Republicans. That’s a yawning gap, and about a matter that really shouldn’t be controversial. We aren’t talking about abortion, or Donald Trump’s White House ballroom, but an elemental thing (pride in country) that in most times and places has been taken for granted.” [editor’s note: If you (irrationally, IMO) want people to be “proud” of their “country,” keep it a country that inspires pride. Otherwise, shut yer whining – TLK] (06/19/26)
- Stopping Trump’s Rolling Coup
Source: Washington Monthly
“Everyone is right to expect a big blue wave—maybe a tsunami—in the midterms this fall. Even with all of the gerrymandering, the odds of Democrats winning control of the House are strong. The Senate, which Republicans now control 53-47, is much closer, which makes it more likely to be the locus of a constitutional crisis. Donald Trump is a chaos agent, and his fear of impeachment and a Senate trial are making him desperate and more dangerous. He can’t cancel the midterms, but he will use the enormous powers of his office to try to invalidate the election of Democrats, even where the margins aren’t close. It’s easy to miss that a slow-motion rolling coup attempt is already underway, staged by Stephen Miller and, of course, Trump himself.” (06/19/26)
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/06/19/stopping-trumps-rolling-coup-of-midterms/
- An Actually Popular British Politician
Source: Persuasion
by François Valentin“Starmer’s growing unpopularity (he is now tied with Liz Truss for least popular prime minister ever) invited a series of challenges over the last few months, especially following a disastrous result for Labour in May’s local elections. But none of his opponents, including the ambitious health secretary Wes Streeting, managed to get sufficient backing from other Labour MPs to launch a challenge. The amateurish plotters resigned from the cabinet without drawing blood. But all along, the real threat to Starmer was far from Westminster. Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Manchester since 2017, has long been gunning for the top job.” (06/19/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/who-is-andy-burnham-britains-likely
- The Strange Case of the United Arab Emirates
Source: The American Conservative
by Ted Snider“[W]hile the rest of the Gulf countries went one way, toward restraint and staying out of a war they were trying to end, the United Arab Emirates went another. The UAE urged the other Gulf countries to take a more aggressive posture in their defense and to join the United States. They alone said they would be willing to join a U.S.-led international effort to ‘secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.’ And on the very day the Gulf Cooperation Council opened its recent summit, the Emirati government announced it was leaving the Saudi-led OPEC group of oil-producing nations. But then the more sensational revelations came. In an extraordinary first, Israel sent an Iron Dome battery, interceptors, and dozens of IDF operators to the UAE, to help intercept Iranian missiles fired at the UAE.” (06/20/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-strange-case-of-the-united-arab-emirates/
- Why Cities Go Socialist
Source: The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson“In the course of my roughly three-quarters-of-a-century-long life, I’ve lived in just three cities: Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C. By year’s end, there’s a decent chance that all three of those cities will have a socialist mayor. Just to be clear, despite the fact that I’ve been an avowed democratic socialist in all three cities (for all of my adult life, in fact), I’m claiming no credit for their new socialist proclivities. Yesterday, the candidate running second in Tuesday’s D.C. Democratic mayoral primary conceded the race to the front-runner, city council and DSA member Janeese Lewis George. With three-quarters of the ballots counted, Lewis George has a 53 percent to 37 percent lead over the second-place finisher.” (06/19/26)
- Trump “loves the inflation?” Good News — there’s plenty more coming
Source: The Hill
by Nicholas B Creel“Asked about the latest Consumer Price Index report showing inflation hitting 4.2 percent, a three-year high, President Trump gave an answer that deserves to run on a loop in attack ads from now until November: ‘You know what I really love?’ he said. ‘I love the inflation.’ The war with Iran, he explained, is the only thing propping up prices, so once it ends, inflation is ‘going to come down like a rock.’ If the president genuinely loves inflation, then he is in luck, because we are about to get a great deal more of it. No peace deal can change that. The war’s inflationary effects cannot be simply switched off at a signing ceremony.” (06/20/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/economy-budget/5931613-inflation-trump-war-iran-prices/
- Plants, Aliens, and Aristotle
Source: Law & Liberty
by Mark K Spencer“A traditional taxonomy can yield new insights into the natures of living things.” (06/19/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/plants-aliens-and-aristotle/
- Poem: Rumbling
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“If you can hear the whales / through your glowing foot roots, / then stand up. / Open your mouth. / Let their aria rip through you. / Let it pound up and out / so the others can find you. / Burrrp! / Now’s not the time for politeness, my love. / We’re staring down mass extinction. / We don’t have time to be cool. / Care! It’s fine! / There’s a rumbling in your belly. / Can you feel it? / An inner ocean, / still teeming with luminescent jellyfish, / dulled by a thin coat of plastic, / immortal but dying anyway. / For so many / their foot roots / have withered away
somewhere in between an Uber shift / and a Door Dash, / and besides, / their heart, / rick-roll racketed by rent scam subscriptions, / beats too loud and fast / to hear any stupid whales….” (06/21/26) - Fiddlers, Drunkards, Marijuana, and the Second Amendment
Source: The Volokh Conspiracy
by David Kopel“Arguing to uphold the ban, the government had to argue that marijuana users were more dangerous than the general population. Yet as the Court pointed out, marijuana is legal in most States. And Congress has constricted Department of Justice funding for enforcement of federal marijuana laws. Moreover, the Executive branch has moved some marijuana from Schedule I (outlawed) to Schedule III (regulated). In short, Hemani rests on foundations that both originalists and a non-originalists can find compelling.” (06/19/26)
https://reason.com/volokh/2026/06/19/fiddlers-drunkards-marijuana-and-the-second-amendment/
- Florida Fake Freedom: Unmasking The Political Spin
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey“Lawmakers praise our liberty while they pass crony tax cuts and restrict your constitutional rights.” (06/19/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/florida-fake-freedom-unmasking-the
- Did Trump Snooker Iran?
Source: American Greatness
by Ken Timmerman“To evaluate the Iran Memorandum of Understanding on its merits, beyond the hype, let’s start by separating what we know from what we don’t. Iran’s military has been destroyed. It has no air force, no navy, and no air defenses. We have obliterated Iran’s uranium enrichment plants, its uranium mills, and its uranium hexafluoride conversion facility, as well as the secret bomb-making workshops in Parchin that Iran would never allow the IAEA to inspect. We have destroyed most of Iran’s ability to manufacture drones and ballistic missiles. We have shattered the Iranian economy. We have pitted the regime against itself, as seen in recent demonstrations organized by hard-liners against the MoU. We have also demonstrated that America has a new ‘special relationship’ – with Israel, not Britain.” [editor’s note: I really need to find this guy’s LSD dealer – TLK] (06/20/26)
- Terminate All Foreign Aid to Israel, Immediately and Permanently
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“Why in the world should the American people be forced, through their tax system, to fund a government that they might not wish to fund if they were free to decide what to do with their own money? Where is the morality in such a program? Where is the justice in such a program? How is such a program reconcilable with the principles of liberty?” (06/19/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/06/19/terminate-all-foreign-aid-to-israel-immediately-and-permanently/
- Supreme Court Ends Federal War on Gun-Owning Potheads
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard“More than fifty-two million Americans used marijuana during 2021, according to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, and another ten million people used other illicit substances. Actual usage is higher because some people are paranoid about confessing crimes to federally funded survey takers. Roughly 40% of American households possess firearms. Thus, roughly twenty-five million gun owners were probably felons because of their possession or use of marijuana or other illicit indulgences. Though most gun owners who violate marijuana laws pose no threat, federal agencies could have potentially rounded them up as if they were hostile Indians being confined to a reservation. … Despite the victory at the Supreme Court, gun owners should remember that most of Congress, the Justice Department, and the Trump White House remain dire threats to their rights and liberties. Any politicians who brazenly seeks to destroy the Second Amendment cannot be trusted to respect any other constitutional right.” (06/19/26)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/06/19/supreme-court-ends-federal-war-on-gun-owning-potheads/
- Pete Hegseth Echoes a Fascist Novel to Commemorate D-Day
Source: The UnPopulist
by Chris Edelson“In what we used to think of as ordinary times, commemorating the anniversary of D-Day—when Allied forces stormed the Normandy beaches to break Hitler’s grip on Europe—would have been a straightforward assignment for the U.S. secretary of defense. The commemoration earlier this month offered Pete Hegseth, the current secretary, an opportunity to stand with our allies and remind them of a shared commitment to democracy and freedom. Almost anyone else in Hegseth’s position would have given a speech that fit the occasion, one focused solely on honoring the American and allied service members who fought and died on June 6, 1944. But these are not ordinary times. Instead, Hegseth delivered a profoundly unsettling address, one echoing the message of The Camp of the Saints, a racist and genocidal 1973 novel by the French writer, Jean Raspail, that has found a serious following among the mainstream U.S. right wing.” (06/19/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/pete-hegseth-echoes-a-fascist-novel
- How Big Fraud is Aided and Abetted by Big Tech and What We Can Do About It
Source: The Jolly Libertarian
by Marco den Ouden“Recently I saw an ad on Youtube which advertised a preventative medicine for Alzheimer’s and dementia. The ad claimed that there is a recipe repeated many times in the Bible for this miraculous preventative and that’s why there is so little incidence of these maladies in Israel. I’m generally skeptical of such claims but if such a claim is false, it simply wouldn’t be permitted to be published, right? Wrong! I decided to check out the claim with my buddy CoPilot (Microsoft’s AI) and it led to an interesting discussion of this and many other false, misleading and fraudulent advertising on big tech platforms. I have flagged such false and misleading ads on Facebook many times and yet the ads keep appearing? Why? Here is our very revealing discussion.” (06/19/26)
https://jollylibertarian.blogspot.com/2026/06/how-big-fraud-is-aided-and-abetted-by.html
- The AI Race Isn’t About Electricity
Source: The Dispatch
by Michael Hochberg“Specialized silicon will solve the AI-driven energy panic.” (06/19/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/artificial-intelligence-silicon-chips-asic/
- As Bad as Obama: Trump’s 2025 Gun Control Enforcement Numbers
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Alan Mosley“Federal gun control enforcement actions by the ATF are on the rise again. While the numbers are still below record highs set by President Trump during his first term, and in one key metric, lower than they’ve been in a decade, the overall picture is still terrible. And in some cases, they’re heading in the wrong direction once again. Every year the ATF releases a fact sheet detailing the number of employees engaging in gun control measures as well as the number of cases pursued and defendants named in said cases. The following report is based entirely on the recently-released data provided for 2025.” (06/19/26)
- The Fed’s higher road to lower prices
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“From the gas pump to the produce aisle, Americans are seeking respite from high prices. They now have a new champion. On Wednesday, Kevin Warsh made his debut as head of the Federal Reserve, easily the world’s most influential economic institution. The central bank chief told reporters the many ways he would change the Fed to rein in inflation. Yet, after being in office for only about three weeks, he also noted his own surprise at one immediate change. ‘I was just incredibly impressed” about how much the Fed’s colleagues have been ‘very open about changes,’ he said. The comment is noteworthy because Mr. Warsh believes that ‘genuine’ deliberation among experts – relying on patient inquiry, respectful listening, and civil attentiveness to alternative views and data – is key to controlling the nation’s money supply and interest rates.” (06/18/26)
- The Dumbest War in American History
Source: Unpopular Front
by John Ganz“There is actually one predictable pattern in Trump’s behavior, and that’s that he’s completely unreliable and terrible to do business with. This looks like one of his business deals: a lot of noise, brutal recriminations, hair-raising threats, grandiose plans and promises, and then he walks away, leaving behind a mess, usually a much crappier version of what he claimed he was gonna do, and, of course, leaving his partners and creditors in the lurch. This is all he is in the end: a schiesty hustler. He got tired of the war; it isn’t working the way he wanted, so he’s trying to pull out.” (06/19/26)
https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/the-dumbest-war-in-american-history
- The American Revolution and the Danger of Standing Armies
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter“Among the key men involved in the American Revolution and the following periods, we find an oft-repeated concern that may seem foreign to us today—the threat of standing armies. This was a heritage of British legal thought and history, and it became an underappreciated part of American political thought and experience. Why were peacetime standing armies viewed as such a threat? To many Americans of this period, peacetime standing armies posed a threat not only because they could be used by the state to overthrow liberty, but because they tended to reshape society and government itself. A permanent military establishment could develop interests distinct from those of the people, become an instrument for enforcing unpopular or unconstitutional policies, and concentrate power in the hands of central authorities.” (06/19/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/american-revolution-and-danger-standing-armies
- My AI Comrade
Source: CounterPunch
by Stephen F Eisenman“The problem with AI today is not that it often hallucinates; it’s that it hardly ever does and is therefore quickly becoming indispensable. For the moment, it’s a shared resource, a digital commons available free to the peasants (that’s us). But every day, more of it gets enclosed so it can be put to other uses: waging war, immigration enforcement, and the capitalist exploitation of people and expropriation of nature. In the hands of the rich and powerful, AI is bringing closer the omni-surveillance world of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985). The essential task therefore – for us like for the protagonists in these novels — is to turn the apparatus against the people who control it.” (06/19/26)
- The Hidden Driver of Social Security’s Fiscal Crisis
Source: The Daily Economy
by Romina Boccia“Social Security’s financing problems stem not only from an aging population but also from benefit formulas that grow more generous with each generation.” (06/19/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-hidden-driver-of-social-securitys-fiscal-crisis/
- Israel squandered its goodwill in the U.S., and now what?
Source: Los Angeles Times
by Matt K Lewis“While it’s impossible to know whether President Trump’s ‘memorandum of understanding’ with Iran will be deemed by history to be a blip or a humiliating defeat for America (if it even holds), one thing looks increasingly clear: Israel lost. That’s not just because Israel’s archenemy has arguably emerged more dangerous than ever. It’s also because Israel repelled large swaths of the American public along the way. When I was growing up as a Christian conservative kid in the 1980s, support for Israel wasn’t so much an option as it was a law of physics. Gravity pulled things downward, taxes were too damn high, and Israel was the good guy. But those days are gone, at least in terms of public perception.” (06/19/26)
- America’s Suez Moment
Source: The Weekly Dish
by Andrew Sullivan“Surrenders are rarely as categorical as this one. We went to war with no debate, no Congressional approval, and no notice. A foreign leader, Bibi Netanyahu, chose the timing by assassinating the entire leadership of the Iranian regime, thereby making the war an existential one for the IRGC, and all but forcing the US to join in. The US subsequently displayed its full and unequaled military might, raining missiles and bombs all over the country, demanding ‘unconditional surrender.’ And the surrender, a few short months later, is ours. You can try to put some lipstick on this porcine disaster — the dead-enders are still trying — but the reality is something even the hasbarists can’t quite spin. … The silver lining, however, is that the American public never wanted this bullshit war, and saw right through it.” (06/19/26)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/americas-suez-moment-b4d
- Socialist Electoral Movement on the Move in New York City
Source: In These Times
by Hamilton Nolan“The farther south you go on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn the more it becomes the sort of lively hectic commercial strip/ party that exists in few places outside of New York. The new sneaker stores and roti restaurants and weird places to buy garish $200 suits and fishnet body suits sit in chipped brick buildings with slapped-up painted wooden signs and you can feel the continuity of history pulsing through, like you could close your eyes and slide right back to the cigar stores and dressmakers that filled those spots a century ago. Set amid this strip is the refurbished King’s Theater — impossibly grand inside, soaring carved wooden columns with twisting, golden wooden flowers and fleur-de-lis and rich crimson curtains dripping in gold fringe. Spectacular. Its unlikely grandeur is somehow enhanced by the fact that it’s shoved down there next to the discount liquor store and the Taco Bell Cantina.” (06/19/26)
https://inthesetimes.com/article/dsa-nyc-zohran-mamdani-bernie-sanders-socialist-slate
- Unattended Baggage, episode 345
Source: Unattended Baggage
“Peace. War. Strait Open. Strait Closed.” (06/20/26)
https://unattendedbaggage.substack.com/p/episode-345-peace-war-strait-open
- The Good Fight, 06/20/26
Source: Yascha Mounk
“A Debate with Curtis Yarvin.” (06/20/26)
https://writing.yaschamounk.com/p/a-debate-with-curtis-yarvin
- The Fifth Column, episode 562
Source: The Fifth Column
“The Iran Deal Is Bad and Everyone Is Stupid.” (06/19/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/the-iran-deal-is-bad-and-everyone
- Free Talk Live, 06/20/26
Source: Free Talk Live
“Stolen Legos update :: Reckless Ben being counter sued :: Crazy Mormon police harassment :: Scottish people taking over Boston :: White pill story of friendship with the Scots :: Supreme Court rules gov can’t restrict gun rights over casual drug use :: Space Force using nanotech for evil? :: Caller recounts his strange life experiences including powerful near death experiences :: Targeted persons :: 2026-06-20 Host: Bonnie, Riley O’Bill, Angelo.” (06/20/26)
- The Focus Group, 06/20/26
Source: The Bulwark
“Focus Group Suggests TX Trump Voters Could Flip to Talarico.” (06/20/26)
- The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan, 06/19/26
Source: The Weekly Dish
“Tiffany Jenkins On Privacy And Liberalism.” (06/19/26)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/tiffany-jenkins-on-privacy-and-liberalism
- CounterPunch Radio, 06/20/26
Source: CounterPunch
“The Origins of the Private Intelligence Complex w/ Barrett Brown.” (06/20/26)
- Serious Trouble, 06/19/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“America’s Next Top Tort.” (06/19/26)
- Parallax Views w/ JG Michael, 06/20/26
Source: Parallax Views w/ JG Michael
“The View from Israel: Israel & Its Supporters Going Crazy Over Trump-Iran MOU w/ Ori Goldberg.” (06/20/26)
- Checks & Balances, 06/19/26
Source: Checks & Balances
“David French: The Executive Branch Is Becoming an 800-Pound Gorilla.” (06/19/26)
https://chkbal.substack.com/p/david-french-the-executive-branch
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 06/20/26
Source: The Dispatch
“An Übermensch’s Surrender | Ruminant.” (06/20/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/an-ubermenschs-surrender-ruminant/
- Reasonably Optimistic, 06/19/26
Source: Washington Post
“Political parties keep asking voters to overlook scandals, bad judgment and unstable behavior because the other side is worse. Senate candidates Graham Platner and Ken Paxton are only the latest examples. Host Megan McArdle argues that character still matters in politics — and that voters are not helpless victims of polarization.” (06/19/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/voters-can-push-back-against-unsavory-politicians/
- Quillette Cetera, episode 66
Source: Quillette
“Benedict Beckeld on Oikophobia, Islam, and the Crisis of Western Identity.” (06/19/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/19/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“The Strait Is Closed Again — Can You Believe It?” (06/19/26)
http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/the-strait-is-closed-again-can-you-believe-it
- The Intercept Briefing, 06/19/26
Source: The Intercept
“The Performative Ceasefire in Gaza.” (06/19/26)
https://theintercept.com/2026/06/19/israel-gaza-ceasefire-tariq-kenney-shawa/
- The Tom Woods Show, episode 2771
Source: The Tom Woods Show
“Democracy Is Low-Intensity Civil War, with Darryl Cooper.” (06/19/26)
https://tomwoods.com/ep-2771-democracy-is-low-intensity-civil-war-with-darryl-cooper/